


The Last Days of Winter

by lodessa



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-02-05
Updated: 2008-02-05
Packaged: 2017-11-16 07:27:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/536992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lodessa/pseuds/lodessa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Winter is coming. Jon can feel it in his bones. It is his fourth and he knows, even as the recruits laugh at the idea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Last Days of Winter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aikodestiny](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=aikodestiny).



Winter is coming. Jon can feel it in his bones. It is his fourth and he knows, even as the recruits laugh at the idea. To them winter is a childish memory. A part of him wishes that it could stay that way. The Wall is a foreboding place on a summer day, but in the depths of winter it is something else entirely. It will change them as it has changed him; that is the way of things. That is what is needed; but in his sleep, Jon dreams of a world where things are otherwise. 

Lady Sansa sends a regular batch of men to him, more constant than the other Great Lords combined. Under the propriety Jon always feels the message, the thanks for not attempting to take what was rightfully hers. Her grandson Petyr brings the new recruits to the Wall, his smile is easy and he is the spitting image of his great uncle. Jon inquires always after the family's health, but dutifully as Lord Commander, never as kin. 

Jon's brothers are those who surround him here at the Wall. Many of them are merely children, but they are the future and Jon is fair if sometimes gruff with them. Sam passed away during the last winter though, and Jon still misses him. The younger man who has taken his place is demure, does not know Jon's particular tones and sometimes Jon thinks the man fears him. Jon is very much alone. He still forgets sometimes and reaches out to pet Ghost's fur, though the direwolf is long since dead and gone. His hair is white like snow, forgetting at last that his father was a Stark. He does not forget, but the memory is buried mostly and bought out only rarely to be polished and cradled and then laid back to rest. 

In his sleep he still hears the wolves call. Let this be the last winter; he thinks. Let someone else take the reigns and let him slip into the darkness, following all that once was dear. 

Petyr is late with the newest offering. He arrives, auburn hair covered in snowflakes, and a cloak of black on his shoulders. His grandmother is dead. Jon has not seen his half sister in nearly 20 years, but he imagines Sansa as her mother, beautiful and cold, a matriarch. He supposes that it is more likely little Catelyn, the daughter, who looks that way now. Petyr gives him a look he recognizes and Jon knows he will ask for a private audience. This will be his last trip as messenger. 

Winter is coming, Petyr begins and by then Jon knows that he will say yes. It is not his time yet, but this is Sansa's final gift. Petyr smiles and Jon remembers, just for a moment, five wolf pups huddled together and one almost lost in the snow. Winter is coming and they will stand side by side once more.


End file.
